Post-Association sharing

My 6-year-old grandson, James, had been ill for several days. The medicines weren’t working and he was getter weaker and sadder. His Mom wanted me with them because he was always better and happier when I was there. She knew why—because I was praying. So I was there every day.

I would like to share a result of reading the compilation of healings in our Association assignment.

For the last two years as ACOP at our branch church, I have been asked to speak about Christian Science to a class on contemporary religions at our local high school. I must mention at the outset that while I am usually comfortable speaking in public (it has been part of my job), I have not been at all comfortable speaking about Christian Science publicly.

As a result of reading (and re-reading) the assignment, I have felt a deepening sense of the efficacy of healing. Here are a couple of instances that speak to me about how what we are learning—the truths we are internalizing and knowing—has an effect.

The best way I can describe how reading these testimonies has affected my conception of Christian Science healing is to think of a box being removed to reveal an unlimited view all around. I have always believed that anything is possible to God and that there is a solution to every human “problem” through Christian Science prayer. But reading these testimonies has made me realize that I have sometimes fallen into a subtle acceptance of false claims about myself and others, thinking, “Oh, that’s how it is now with that person,” or “That’s a “big” claim to overcome,” or even “That problem is not that bad.”

I just wanted to share a wonderful experience I had on Sunday just after the concert at the Mother Church. There was one piece of music that struck a chord with me, hauntingly beautiful and moving beyond words. The song was “Peace like a river” and it certainly carried a sense of peace and healing and pure Soul within it. I was leaving Church with the CD kindly provided for those who attended and was heading to a spot where I knew I could grab a taxi with ease. I have gone there on many occasions and jumped in to find a driver who I recognized from previous trips.